Close encounters with a living dinosaur

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THEY have a reputation as the most dangerous bird in the world. If the cassowary – a large flightless bird that lives in Australia and New Guinea – feels cornered it will charge, slashing out with blade-like claws. Just Google "cassowary attacks" and you'll see what I mean.

Photographer Christian Ziegler, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Balboa, Panama, has had a few close calls, including being charged by a male. "That was quite scary, I have to admit, probably the closest one can feel to being charged by a dinosaur," he says. "However, each time it was my fault for accidently getting too close to one of the chicks."

Male cassowaries incubate the eggs and provide all the parental care to the chicks, so they have every reason to defend themselves and their brood. Ziegler spent hours, sometimes complete days, in the company of the animal in this photo, but still treated him with respect.

"For this image, I used a remotely controlled camera which I set up under a fruiting tree that I knew he visited frequently. So when he showed up and started feeding, I was able to trigger the camera from a safe distance, without bothering him," Ziegler says. His patience paid off, and this shot won him top prize in the nature (singles) category of the 2013 World Press Photo of the Year awards.

There is real concern that cassowaries could go the way of their dinosaur relatives: they are endangered in Australia, with perhaps no more then 1500 individuals left in the wild. "They are crucially important for the ancient rainforest of northern Queensland as seed dispersers for many tree species," Ziegler says. "I hope that this story can help the conservation efforts for cassowaries and their habitat."

This article appeared in print under the headline "Dinosaur down under"

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